Every time I hear the song “In the Air Tonight”, I’m instantly 8 years old riding in the back of a station wagon on my way to my grandparents’ house.

When you hear certain songs, does your mind go back to specific times in your life?

Have you ever gone through a closet and found some old photos that take you to another place and time?

Have you ever smelled something that filled your mind with nostalgia?

Of course the answer to all of those questions is yes.

This phenomenon is common in all cultures and it is bitter sweet most of the time.

There is a time in all of our lives that we hold close. A time when all seemed right with the world. He was still around. She was still in your life. Everything seemed to be at peace. What I’m touching on is deeper than we can go into in this article. But I believe “God placed eternity in our hearts” Ecclesiastes 3:11.

There is a longing in each of us for innocence, for peace, for Eden or Heaven if you will.

That’s where repentance comes in. (Don’t let the “religious” word repentance scare you.)

We commonly think of repentance in a religious sense. For example, say you’re sorry and mean it, now change your ways and do better. That’s part of it but not the full picture.

Repentance in the common Jewish understanding is known as “Teshuva” it literally means to “return”. It involves quite a process but for our purposes it means to come home, back to where you’ve always belonged.

You may have never even considered a life with Christ; He is asking you to return to Him, where you’ve always belonged. There may be changes you have to make, there may be things you have to let go of, but the most important thing is to repent… come home.

So maybe those nostalgic feelings that show up every so often do more than just point to a time in your life, maybe they are the impulse in all of us to return to the innocence (forgiveness) that is found in the love of God.

Jesus told the story of the prodigal son 2,000 years ago but it has survived and circulated because it’s true in the deepest sense. Why is the prodigal son story so powerful? Because the son comes home.

The son repents (returns) not knowing if his father will forgive him, if he has lost everything. He plans a speech about how sorry he is for all he has done. But his father jumps off the porch and welcomes Him with open arms. The father doesn’t even let the son get his apology out. He throws a huge party for his son. The father cries out…

“My son who was lost has come home.”

Is that you?

Do you need to return to where you’ve always belonged?

-Tom Wise